Adapt and Prevail: Why Mental Rigidity Is the Real Enemy (And How Jiu-Jitsu Trains the Cure)

Many people don't fail because they're mentally weak—they fail because they're mentally rigid. When I say that, I'm talking about a pattern I've seen in fighting, in business, and in life: when reality changes, some people tighten up and double down, and that's usually when things start to break.

What I want to do here is lay out one of the most valuable skills martial arts has given me—the power of adapting—and show you what that looks like in practice, not as a slogan confirming what you already believe, but as a tool you can actually use.

Rigidity creates boundaries (and boundaries get countered)

Rigidity defines you and gives you edges: where you start, where you stop, what you will and won't do. The problem is that once those edges exist, they can be used against you—physically and mentally.

If you're physically stiff, I can control you like I would wrap my hands tightly around a rock; if you're relaxed and flowing, you're like water- harder to get a hold of. And the same thing happens mentally: if you're locked into one path, you become predictable.

Discipline vs. adaptation: staying the course when the going gets tough isn't always a virtue

There's a time to stay the course and push through. Anything worth learning is hard, and if you change direction at the first sign of friction, you never develop the discipline required to get good at anything.

But there's also a time when the smart move is to adapt—because you're not "being tough," you're just wasting time on a path that's no longer the best one. Discipline is staying the course when the course is right; adaptation is having the humility to admit when it isn't.

Training gives you vocabulary—adaptation gives you fluency

In music, you learn how to play your instrument by repeated prescribed drills. But as you then know how to play, unless you're reading written music, you're often improvising, which is really just adaptation in real time. I learned this early playing in rock bands, and it stuck with me because the principle is identical in grappling: you're responding to what's happening, not what you wish was happening.

In Brazilian jiu-jitsu, drilling techniques gives you a physical vocabulary- like practicing your instrument gives you a musical vocabulary, but the real skill is not being limited by that vocabulary. The goal is to develop fluency: to combine, switch, and create in real time based on the moment in front of you.

Martial arts evolve because reality forces evolution and adaptation

One reason I love martial arts is that it doesn't reward fantasy for long. Over time, arts either adapt—or they get left behind. You can see that evolution clearly in how Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu developed, and how the early "style vs. style" era eventually evolved into modern MMA.

The deeper lesson is that systems adapt the same way people do: either they update based on feedback, or they become obsolete. When you understand that, you stop romanticizing "the old way" just because it's familiar.

Katrina taught me adaptation isn't theory—it's leverage

One of the clearest examples of adaptation in my life came in 2005, when I was co-leading pet rescue efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The work was brutal, chaotic, and time-sensitive—and the original process of scouring the streets that we were using to locate stranded pets was painfully slow and inefficient.

So I adapted in two key ways: first, I stopped trying to increase effort and focused on improving information flow, including working with MapQuest to turn a spreadsheet of addresses into pinned maps rescuers could use. Second, I shifted priorities toward "asymmetrical payoffs," like focusing on cats in apartment buildings, where one rescue location could yield many animals.

Adaptation on the mat: ride the wave, don't fight the ocean

If you've tried to control a bigger, stronger opponent, you know force alone isn't the answer. Control comes from constant micro-adjustments—staying connected, feeling the shift, and moving with it. That's adaptation in practice.

A surfer doesn't try to control the wave; he reads it and rides it. On the mat, I'm doing the same thing: I'm not trying to change reality, I'm trying to use reality.

The emotional trap: anger and fear make you predictable

The worst rigidity comes from being emotionally hijacked. Anger and fear narrow your perception, degrade your fine motor skills, and shove you into predictable, force-heavy reactions—exactly the kind of reactions skilled people can counter.

When you're stuck in emotion, you're not present. You can't see clearly, you can't learn, and you can't adjust—because you're focused on what you want, not on what's actually happening.

Sometimes the best adaptation is changing the goal

Adaptation isn't always "find a better route to the same destination." Sometimes it's realizing the destination itself needs to change. In business, people call this a pivot—changing the product or approach based on real feedback while staying committed to the real outcome.

I've lived this personally too: I had a period where my goal was to be a professional musician, but eventually I realized I wasn't going to get the level of success I wanted (or wasn't willing to do what it would take). So I adapted the goal: make a good living and be happy.

A black belt lesson: the best people see the iceberg early

Professor John Will, a BJJ pioneer and coral belt, once joked that on the Titanic, white and blue belts would be clutching the railings while the ship sank, but black belts would've seen the iceberg coming and been long gone. The point is simple: experience helps you detect the loss of position early—and adaptation means you actually act on what you see.

That's not quitting. That's wisdom. On the mat, it's the difference between stubbornly holding a failing position and transitioning before the disaster becomes inevitable.

Your move: what are you pushing against that you should be adapting around?

So here's the question I'll leave you with: what's blocking you right now—something in business, training, work, or your personal life that you keep trying to bulldoze through? And if effort isn't solving it, what would adaptation look like—changing your actions, your route, your timeline, or even your attitude?

Because change is the tide that moves everything, whether you can see it or not. When a change in approach is needed, the strongest thing you can do isn't to stiffen up—it's to adapt and prevail.

About Dave Meyer

David Meyer is a pioneering American Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner, accomplished non-profit founder, and philanthropist. He co-founded Adopt-a-Pet.com and currently leads Food System Innovations and Humane America Animal Foundation. A member of the BJJ Dirty Dozen, Dave earned his black belt from Rigan Machado in 1996 and was the first American to medal at the black belt level at the BJJ World Championships in Brazil. He has since achieved the rank of coral belt, the highest rank in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and is a member of the Gang of Eight.

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